Long title, I know but once you've been writing a blog for a year short and sassy is just not coming out these days.
So we in our house have officially left bump on a log stage. Let me clarify by stating that I have never felt like Kadence is just a bump but no more are the days of cuddling in front of netflix like a bum for hours on end while baby sleeps and I binge watch some non important show (don't tell my shows). Gone are the days of a sleeping baby in a car seat while you are at the grocery store, in a restaurant, or anywhere else for that matter. Gone are the days mindless chew toys and activity mats. I know that my girl has been on the move for awhile now but it truly feels like over Christmas break she has had this huge leap developmentally and she's like a real human in there. She is mocking everything we say. When I am measuring out her bottle in the morning I count the scoops out loud (on another day maybe we should talk about how I now narrate EVERYTHING I do...I would like to say this only happens when Kadence is on my hip but the people at target would tell you otherwise) and now when I say 1 she say one (or what sounds like one) and so forth till we get to 4. She can say Jada, Daddy, Mama, yuck, hey, hi, and a lot of other random words. Daddy is my favorite to hear because she says it all the time. But she also knows just when to say it. The other morning Andy was coming in the garage from work and we had just finished her morning bottle. She was in complete silence and was listening to him come in the garage, put down his bag, and come up the steps before he had said anything and before she could see him she said daddy and started crawling towards the steps.
She also likes to "find my nose", clap, and "give kisses". She has a favorite book (Nugget and Fang) and she knows where to find it and what comes next.
She has started dancing and "singing" along to songs.
She has stated feeding her self, figuring out how to pour things out and how to put them back together.
She has figured out cause and effect.
When trying to show her how a sorting game worked the other morning, she figured out that instead of her doing it...I was much faster. So each time she would take it out and give it back to me so I could do it again, and again, and again.
The other night she had some ointment on her back and Jada was intrigued by the smell so Jada was following Kadence around. Kadence thought this was the funniest thing and soon realized that Jada would "chase" her wherever she went. Kadence then started crawling quickly from the tile to the carpet and back and forth getting Jada to follow her. When Jada stopped, Kadence still kept trying to get her to follow her. When Andy and I picked up on what she was doing, Andy got down on the ground and started chasing her too and that was just as much fun and then Jada got re-interested too.
Needless to say, this brain surgeon or freaking bright child we have on our hands is constantly thinking, learning, and figuring out this world. I have always been fascinated with child growth and development, language development and other things of the sort but watching your own child go through each stage and just watching them figure out the world is one of the most fascinating things I have ever experienced. I am in awe of God and how He is shaping her into a little human, who at 11 months is quite independent. I am in awe of how each day she seems to learn something new, tackle something that she hasn't done before, and I just keep thinking what happened to my baby?
So enough bragging and now for the "What to do now" stage. Here are some helpful tips for my moms out there that will get to this stage and reminders for myself:
1. Do not stay up late pinteresting or netflixing- you will need ALL of your energy and attention ready to go first thing in the AM
2. Start watching the words of you and the people around you (going back to work next week should be a treat...if I have the first 10 month old to say the f-word- I will kill a teenager...you have been warned)
3. Take baby proofing to a whole new level. It's not about gates. It's not about outlet covers...I'm talking tape over the tv buttons (so she can't turn off and on the TV). Chairs that were once chairs are now obstacle courses that you can go over and under. If you have a dog...figure out what the dog can do that the baby can't or shouldn't do. Since Kadence mocks people she also mocks Jada. So, jada can fit through the spindles on our stair case to get up stairs...Kadence...well...not so much- lol. But dang it if she didn't give it her best effort.
4. Sort through toys- sift through the bump on a log toys and toys that will actually keep her engaged. Thanks to Christmas we actually have toys that fit into that category now.
5. Sing and dance with them, get on the floor with them, mock them back...Kadence is always blown away that I know all the songs on pandora (thank God they are not hard...things like itsy bitsy spider and wheels on the bus help). She loves it when we all play in the ball pit, or when we all are cuddled up on the stuffed animals in the living room.
6. She is a sponge, she is taking it all in. Keep narrating, keep filling that head with things that you want her to take in and filtering out the things that you don't. It's so funny now because Andy and I will be watching a show on netflix and be like "Um, yeah this is trash we are turning this off...or sesame street it is" (because even the cartoons these days are awful)
7. Take time to breathe and take it all in. I think every stage I have thought this is my favorite stage and yet the journey continues and I love this stage too. I love this little human, I love that she is so clever, funny, and so full of life and joy! (I also wish that now I was on maternity leave so that I could "sleep when she sleeps" but I'll just have to settle for an early bed time)
8. This may just be a new winter thing (since this is the first winter that she's not a bump on a log and usually I am all about building up the immune system) but I am breaking out the hand sanitizer again and making these filthy animals of the rest of the world disinfect before putting their hands all over my adorable baby...germs people...germs.
9. In our house we have started doing art, fine motor things, and working on gross motor. Not like "school" by any means but I love me some good sensory activities and Kadence seems to enjoy them as well. Things that we can do together (since she is still in the let's put everything in our mouth stage)
10. I'm thinking about breaking out the moby again! Or my makeshift moby. I don't know if she will buy it but there are times when mommy needs her hands free and having her attached to my body would do us both good...well unless she screams bloody murder and then that won't really do any of us any good-lol
Parenting is so much fun and being a mom is a blast...I will take my snot covered shirts, and particles of food I find on me all day (let's be honest most are from Kadence but not all-lol), and the change of clothes I usually need after bath time because my girl loves to splash! I love this season, I love this girl and for my first time mommy's to be (there are so many of them in my life right now) I am so excited to watch you walk through this first year with your babies it is truly amazing!
p.s. what I have learned is that I should not blog after having several doses of caffeine today...sorry not sorry (can I even use that phrase at almost 30?)
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